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Jason's Quick Coccodrillo Ciabatta Bread

May 9, 2007 - 5:40pm

LilDice

Jason's Quick Coccodrillo Ciabatta Bread

This is a formula originally posted on usenet in the great alt.bread.recipes group by Jason Molina all credit to him and the 'King of Gloop', I'm reposting it here for those that missed it there. I've made this quite a few times and it's always a huge hit. Giant bubbles and a golden crust. Best part is you can do the whole thing in about 4-5 hours. It does not use the traditional stretch/fold method for a ciabatta because it's so damn wet, the only stretch is the final shaping.

With the paddle (I prefer the hook to prevent the dough from crawling into the guts of the mixer), beat the living hell out of the batter, it will start out like pancake batter but in anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes it will set up and work like a very sticky dough. if it starts climbing too soon, then switch to the hook. You'll know it's done when it separates from the side of the bowl and starts to climb up your hook/paddle and just coming off the bottom of the bowl. I mean this literally about the climbing, i once didn't pay attention and it climbed up my paddle into the greasy inner workings of the mixer. It was not pretty! Anyway, it will definately pass the windowpane test.

Place into a well oiled container and let it triple! it must triple! For me this takes about 2.5 hours

Empty on to a floured counter (scrape if you must, however you gotta get the gloop out), cut into 3 or 4 peices. Spray with oil and dust with lots o' flour. Let them proof for about 45 minutes, which gives you enough time to crank that oven up to 500F.

After 45 minutes or so the loaves should be puffy and wobbly, now it's iron fist, velvet glove time. Pick up and stretch into your final ciabatta shape (~10" oblong rectangle) and flip them upside down (this redistributes the bubbles, so you get even bubbles throughout), and onto parchment or a heavily floured peel. Try to do it in one motion and be gentle, it might look like you've ruined them completely, but the oven spring is immense on these things.

Bake at 500F until they are 205F in the cnter (about 15-20 minutes), rotating 180 degrees half way through. Some people like to turn the oven down to 450F after 10 minutes, but whatever floats your boat. I usually bake in 2 batches.

Thanks for the reply. Thats nice to know though!. It trippled just fine and hten i put it into the cibatta shape and put it in the oven and low and behold... flatbread. so we had naan for dinner rather than ciabatta, haha

its googles fault for the conversions then. according to google and answers.com, 125grams = 1 cup flour... So the internet doesnt know everything. haha

i think my sister has a scale, i will try that next time. Oh and it could have been that i do the scope and sweep method of measureing. i dont use a sifter at all. i just scope it in the cup and use a knife to levle it out.

You can have your guesswork correct or google the conversion correctly, but everyone scoops and measures differently. It's shocking how "off" on your ingredients you can be when you measure, vs weigh. In addition, different flours can weigh differently... and there are as many guesses as to the weight of a cup of all purpose flour as there are opinions. No one seems to agree.

I hope you don't give up on the recipe.. it's a really good one. You can buy a great digital food scale that measures every which way to sunday and has a tare function so you can just use one bowl to accurately measure everything. I've seen them for less than $20 and includes free shipping. Just buy a digital one..

Yep, weight-to-volume "conversions" aren't anywhere near as accurate as they initially appear. At the same time, in the web's defense, I'll point out that this is just one more manifestation of the hoary old problem with calculators and computers: confusing "precision" with "accuracy" (dictionary time?-). That confusion is something we computer professionals have been decrying (largely fruitlessly) for many many decades already.

The Google answer isn't exactly "wrong" ...it's just incomplete. It really should have a footnote of a least a couple paragraphs to explain it. So long as we shoehorn answers into nothing more than a single "number", we get this sort of over-simplified under-explained pablum.

It is amazing what you can do when you are ignorant. I mix a half pound of flour with six ounces of water, a teaspoon of table salt and a teaspoon of yeast stir the whole mess up with a strong spoon, let rest for a half hour, stir it again and leave it alone for a couple of hours. Dump it out on to a pile of flour and organize it into a loaf shape and put it on a greased baking sheet, let it rise for a while and get a loaf that looks just like that. I never knew that it had a name I just called it bread.

I used to always measure flour until I started coming here and reading more books on artisan bread baking.. the scale has been my most valuable kitchen tool... that and dough scrapers, particularly for this recipe!

I just bought the Artisan bread in 5 Minutes a Day book and it's a bit frustrating as they only give measures, not weights.. :)

Sweet action, thanx guys.yeah my sister has a scale, i just weighed some 500 grams of flour and it ended up 3 cups. i used medal gold AP bleached flour. i wanted unbleached but mis read the dang bag. haha

here is my problem, i dont know if i will bake it at 500. 450 make a to crispy of a crust for me. i prefer a softer crust, still crispy but not extremely crsipy.

what if i were to bake at 430?

thanx. oh and is there a forum here so i can post questions in there rather than all on a single blog? how do the moderators of this place prefere things to be done?

It's his website. But if you have specific questions, there are all sorts of categories and some existing blog somewhere probably answers your questions. Use the Search function, it works pretty well.

I heat my oven to 500 then turn it down to 450 to bake. Ciabatta is supposed to be rustic and have a good flavor in the crust, with a creamy and airy center. Even though you live at high altitude, you will probably get good results. However, you can do whatever you want, but I would not want to experiment, spend all that time baking it and then have it turn out inferior, but that's up to you. The crust does soften as it cools and is absolutely delicious. To me, it's the combination of the crust and creamy crumb that gives this bread it's personality. The only negative thing I can say about it is that it tastes salty to me at times... and I've cut back on the salt in the past and it hasn't hurt it too much.

Elevation may have nothing to do with it. Your crumb can be dense because you have been mis-measuring flour all this time - something to think about. It really does make a difference.

Three elements just off the top of my head (although I'm sure there are many more) can effect your bread - the type of flour (brand does matter as does bleached and unbleached in my opinion), the knead (do you knead your dough enough.. or even too much? And finally, weighing vs. measuring flour. This can make a major difference in how your breads turn out.

At high altitude you have hydration issues naturally - so if you're measuring flour, you're most likely using too much, which - when added to the hydration issues of high altitude, leaves you struggling with a dense crumb or heavy loaf. Also, your bread will rise a bit faster at high altitude, so I'd use an instant yeast, not rapid rise.

Hope that helps.. I lived in Montana at high altitude for many years and never had bread baking issues, but I always could feel when my hydration was just right.. and knew when I had kneaded just enough.

I only use gold medal AP un bleached because i follow the ABin5 book. I have never ever baked before until i bought that book. That book has taught me so much about bread and how to make it. Im glad i bought it. I dont spend alot of time baking since im a 20 credit hour mechanical engineering student! BUT when i get the time to bake, i like it. i have only made the master recipe 4 or 5 times so its all new to me. haha. I bought that book cuz she wrote it just for me and my little time to bake. haha

I dont knead my dough since im following the ABin5 technique. However, for the cibatta recipe, im assuming, the long mix times of up to 30 minutes are my kneading times. I have no idea what i "knead" to look for for a good knead and hydration.

I also use Gold medal AP because its not to expensive. King arthur is bout 9$ here for 5 pounds. Plus i have heard that the protien content of KA flour is more than GM so it requires more water. My only issue with ABin5 is they say to make the dough sticky. Well, there are many forms and degrees of sticky dough so i just make it till the douhg clings to the hook and not the bowl. maybe thats wrong. Maybe the master recipe from ABin5 is supposed to stick to the bowl. i have no idea. haha.

You know those instructions that say, "and flip them upside down (this redistributes the bubbles, so you get even bubbles throughout), and onto parchment or a heavily floured peel." I have never been a master flipper so here is an alternative using 1/2 gallon plastic milk jugs. I cut them length wise in a "V". The point goes down and they are held up with wood blocks on the sides. They are sprayed with olive oil and each of the six loaves did the final rise in one of milk jug halves. It was a very simple step to turn each one upside down on parchment paper when ready.

Use of the milk cartons is very creative. I'll have to try it. When I do Ciabatta, I do use 2 x 4 lumber with the Ciabatta dough on parchment to keep the dough from spreading into a thin wafer. I remove the lumber just before sliding the dough onto a hot stone. I like the milk carton idea better and can still use my 2 x 4's to prop the cartons.

I don't have the spreading issue for whatever reason. I use two dough scrapers and scrape up each end at the same time, flipping it over onto my parchment for the final resting before baking. I get a nice spring on my loaves and I actually never touch the dough.. I use my dough scrapers to cut, flip and final shape the loaves. Actually, I learned this method from Jen Menke's video where she goes through the entire process from beginning to end - here is the link:

I agree . I use parchment paper for every loaf. After it has sat for about 45 minutes and starting to proof. I Wet my hands turn roll it onto the parchment parpr and shape. I have a few photos on this page unless I deleted them. I get a nice rise and lots of holes for dipping and holding the oil and pepper.

I do 2 mixes at a time and when the first one is ready in about 45 minutes the second 3 loaves are ready also for the oven. Delicious sandwich bread and with flour at $1.50-1.75 for 5 lbs at Wallmart most expensive thing is tha ac for baking. Happy Holidays .

Thats like 10 min from my house. ill just run over there and buy me some. The only thing bout orsan gygi is how expensive there lump charcoal is.. i pay 6.50$ for 11lbs at walmart and its royal oak american made lump. haha

The secret to this bread is beating it fairly fast - super high speed in a stand mixer like a kitchen aid. A small hand mixer won't work well and I can see why it would burn out.. it's alot of mixing. You have to really work it for about 20-25 mins and I too have a Kitchen Aid Pro machine. I've tried to make it in my Magic Mill, but it never seems to work out as nicely, although it does pretty well.

There is a video on You Tube that is really wonderful to watch for the next time you make it. She does an excellent job of explaining all the steps... each of which is vital and important to the success of your bread.

Don't use your food processor to do this bread. If it overheated at half speed, it's likely to do worse at a higher speed. This recipe is really only suitable for a stand mixer like a KitchenAid or Cuisinart.

Sorry about your mixer. I have to beat mine 20-30 minutes on high speed. I have KA Pro. Have had flat bread but not sure . I think inexperience was my problem.

This was last bread. about 2 weeks ago

Have a Happy Holiday. I find that my success has been going exactly by the recipe . I do as mentioned in previous post add 2 table spoons of either wheat or rye flour to the mix. Just seems to taste a little nicer. But that is from my taste buds.

I put these on for our New Years Day dinner, which was Marinara and Meatballs... the recipe from Jason is followed exactly.. only I add a bit more water (490 grams) since I live in Arizona. Perfect every time and the oven spring is great!

I understand that dough is supposed to be soft, and handle it gingerly. But is it supposed to be like jello with big bubbles? The bread I have made has been good, but I don't think mine has the consistency some of you have described.

Any thoughts?

Btw, I am a baker for a family-owned bakery that's breaking into the bread segment of our industry- a total bread newbie, but comfortable with pastries, cookies, etc. I have a decent grasp of the science of baking to work with.

This dough is supposed to be extremely hydrated and have tons of bubbles.. so the answer is yes. It is definitely supposed to be "gloppy" and sloppy if you are using this formula. I never touch it with my hands, I just use wet dough scrapers. i think every formula is going to be slightly different. I haven't seen or tried Gisslen's formula or percentages, methods, etc. I've made many ciabatta's and by far, this one has really given me a great bread. Others are slightly more flavorful, but not nearly as convenient and fast. Are other methods more traditional? Probably, but the outcome is fantastic and that's all I care about. Give this a go and do your own comparison. Nice, holey and moist ciabatta with a crackly crust is hard to achieve, but it is very easy using Jason's methods.

I started making ciabatta 2 weeks ago but it seems I have done something wrong because my ciabatta never brown like yours.

This is my first batch.

This is my second batch.

And here is my third batch.

I followed the recipe exactly so I don't know what was the problem. Would anyone please advice me? I don't have KA, I am using a standard stand mixer, I used turbo speed mixing the dough(the fastest is speed 5). I let them rise in my warm kitchen, the temperature never drop below 76F. I did not use tap water, I make all the batch using bottled drinking water. The four contains 12% protein.

The dough never pulled aside from the bowl, I mixed the third batch for 1 hour but it never pulls away. So I decided to dump the dough in a container and it triple in 3 hours. After reshaped, I heated the oven at 500F with a steamer at the lowest rack and baked for 20 minutes. Please, help me. I like this bread so much but I've never get a good result.

Well, you're not really following the recipe exactly as it is calling for mixing on VERY high speed and until your dough should not only pull away from the sides, but actually begin creeping up your dough hook. Even in a KA, this takes a long time. Toward the end of my mix with the Kitchen Aid, my mixer is bouncing all over the place.. and it's still not quite ready.

The second issue is you are allowing your dough to rise, then you are reshaping too many times, it sounds like. After your first rise, you should be dumping your dough out and shaping. Allowing that to rest, covered.. for at least 45 minutes while your oven heats.

Not sure what kind of oven you've got.. but I suspect it isn't conducive to allowing really hot air to bake your bread. I doubt it is really 500 degrees eithre. You should use an oven thermometer to check the actual temperature of it to be sure it's actually getting hot enough. Your cracked loaves indicate that you've allowed it to rise too long, it could be too hot in your oven, or you're not covering them while they rise...I think your dough is underworked with the wrong mixing style or mixer and possibly overworked on the rise, reshaping, etc.

On the bright side, there are a few posters here that have mixed this dough by hand (you actually need to read all the posts to find them). I would suggest you try that and forget using the mixer, which sounds like it was meant to mix cakes, not breads such as this. You still have an issue with the oven, however and you may not be able to compensate for that.

Have you really, read through the directions and all of the posts? I know there is alot here, but I get the feeling you haven't really read everything and understood it. Make sure you're using the right type of yeast. Bottled water is, for me, a waste of time.. I use tap water and even water that has gone through a water softener.. my breads are always right. I would say your issue is not the water or the flour.. it's the way you're mixing and the small oven that is causing you the problems.

I spent a few days reading from the first comment to the end, only then I decided to post my problems. I did follow the recipe exactly.

First problem is my mixer, the highest speed is speed 5, so I mixed the dough at turbo speed. I will try mixing by hand next time.

Second, after mixing in the mixer, I put the wet dough in a container and let rise until triple. After that I dumped the whole lot on a floured surface. Shaping it using scraper and let rest for 45 minutes. They double in volume, and someone mentioned here to flip it upside down to redistribute the air bubbles. I did not see any different actually. So on the third batch I omitted the step.

You are right about the third batch. I left them in the kitchen for 4 hours (my hubby asked me to go out with him)

I tried again today, I make two batches. First batch, I started mixing early morning by hand. It did not triple. Small holes but I get the browny crust. Second batch is in the oven still but I see it did not rise. The bread is very flat and the crust brown nicely. Both batches mixed by hand. Sorry can't post pictures, out of battery. I am really frustrated. My oven can reach up to 250C. It can't be the oven right? Because my first batch does "oven spring" but the rest...from 2nd to 5th batches, they are all flat.

I use SAF instant yeast, organic bread flour and I only mix in salt after 10 minutes rest. Bread flour is rare here, so it is very expensive. I bought a packet of 1kg at USD 2.06, converted to Malaysian Riggit, it is about RM 6.40. All purpose flour sell at USD 0.81 per kg, which is RM 2.50 in my currency. I am sad that the flour wasted like that but I can't give up yet. I really want to taste a home made ciabatta. I wasn't complaining just a bit down after failed five time in a row. Will try again later.

Without a high speed mixer, I just don't think you're mixing it fast enough and long enough. People have mixed this by hand and claim to get good results. I just think it is way too much work for what you get and unless you are beating like hell, you're not going to get the same result.

The second issue you're having is your oven. Even thought 250 C is hot enough (485 F), your oven is very small. It is so small that air cannot circulate properly around your bread and allow it to brown.

These are just my opinions, but seriously, unless you can beat the living daylights out of this bread, you're not going to get the really good bread.

I feel very badly for you. Do you know anyone with a regular oven? Maybe you could go to their house and make up a batch? Also, the recipe calls for bread flour, but you could use AP - the taste will just be different. It can, however, be done.

When I was mixing the dough, my son did not dare come close to me, his face said "mommy is scary looking" and I caught my hubby staring at me with "Uhh, she is crazy" look. So I think I did beat the live out of it and I will not mix it by hand until all blister healed. Hubby agreed buying KA for my birthday on May. KA's price in Malaysia is very expensive, around RM 2,500. I gonna browse Amazon for KA. But I can't do anything about the oven because we bought it a couple of months ago and I am pretty sure the neighbors have the same type of oven. Bread baking is not common here.

I am not sure the AP can make a good bread because they have lower level of protein. I found cheaper bread flour at bakery ingredient shop but they are not sure the protein percentage resulting buying imported organic bread flour with 12% protein from Carrefour.

Thanks BellesAZ. The bread is not really bad. I can't stop eating them with raspberry jam. But they are not good enough to make sandwich bread yet. I will definitely try this recipe again in future. Thank you for your support.

I tried it once but the result was almost the same with Jason's ciabatta. The holes were slightly bigger, with addition of olive oil, the crust is a bit soft than this one. I turned my bread halfway too, they brown evenly.

Here is the link. But it strange, I cannot make window pane from my dough.

Your best bet for some good oven spring, with this recipe and your oven, would be to try to find a piece of tile(in lieu of baking stone) and get it preheated good and hot.

But again, with your oven, mixer, possibly flour(or lack thereof, respectively), you're fighting an uphill battle. With what you have to work with right now, your ciabattas are great.

Don't get so obsessed with this recipe which you really don't have the set up for. As Belles said, you really cannot make this recipe without a mixer. What you end up with may eventually turn out great, but it won't really be this recipe.

Maybe look for recipes that fit more with your set up.

Here's a great looking recipe which uses hand mixing, and a little lower baking temp:

I have been using a piece of tile in my oven ever since I read about them in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes. Usually I heated the oven before I start the 2nd rise.

I am a bit obsess with this recipe because it is a lot easier and the photos in the page look so yummy! I really wish I can make a good caibatta. Anyway, I ran out of bread flour at the moment. Don't know when I can go to the store but once I get the flour, I will be start making ciabatta from the link you posted.

I made this recipe (variation 1) and it was good - nice and chewy. I'm a real neophyte trying to understand hydration, feel of what I'm looking for to get what I want (like I can do with cookies!) and trying to understand all this. Mine was a little dense but I could see SOME big holes, so I am on the right track. I will keep doing this recipe to be my guinea pig for learning about bread.

One thing I have determined is I do need to get a scale - approximates for me now just don't work!

A scale transforms your baking experiences beyond belief! Luckily, I know most doughs and how they should "feel", so i can tell when they are right, but a scale has helped me better achieve this. Your baking will take the next step. I just bought a new scale at Bed, Bath & Beyond. It's made by OXO and it's fantastic.. love it more than my other scale. It has a larger flat surface so my biggest mixing bowls sit right on top, never a problem. It also has a zero button.. so everytime I add the next ingredient, I just zero it out.. and add it in the right scale. I think i was less than $50 and it is the nicest scale I've ever owned. It has a pull out front too so I can see the measures better.. it lights up too!

I think I must update my success making ciabatta by hands. I got a good result! They are soft, airy with big holes! I don't have KA so I mixed the batch using Pensonic mixer at turbo speed for 15 minutes. Let it rest 30 mins followed by strecth and fold. another 30 mins rest, strect and fold. Let rise until double (it wont triple in my case), shaped using scraper. Try degassing the dough as little as possible and pop them in the oven at 250C for 20 minutes.

Stretch and fold this dough? I can't imagine doing that. With that being said, I think there are a number of ways you can make this bread work. I've never let my bread rest or done a stretch and fold and these are the results.. from yesterday's batch.

I actually saw a video showing how to fold the dough using scraper, scrap for 3 minutes every 20-30 mins. The dough produces more air bubble after I do the scrap and fold. Yesterday I forgot to do the scrap and fold, my bread doesn't look good with smaller holes, not airy and a bit tough.

p/s: I am sorry, it is not strecth and fold. I just knew the different between strect/fold and scrap/fold.

Yes, I let it rest. Yes, it was loose. I began to question whether I had put in enough flour, so I added an additional 1/4 cup. Still, after an additional 15 min of beating.....loosey goosey!! I threw it out.

I may try it again next weekend, but I hate to potentially waste another batch of ingredients for the same results. I'll watch the video here shortly.

The link has been posted in these discussions. I've had some people say that the dough is not right and they are mixing and mixing.. but then they look at the video and turns out it is right.. you need to know what you're looking for.

Your dough will take on a silky, stringy dimension and you can hear it slapping around in the bowl.

This bread looked so good I had to give it a try. This is the results of following the Semolina version of the recipe. I did make a "no knead" Ciabatta that I thought had more flavor but as you can see this is a very pretty looking loaf.

I just discovered this site and it was the answer to all my frustrations for getting the holes in the ciabatta . I added more liquid to get a gooey texture and beat it for at least 8 or 9 minutes;(the secret) I have tried both with and without the semolina and it turned out great each time..I think the semolina may have had a soft (Still lots of holes ,though) texture common with popovers..almost steamed. I made pizza out of the all bread flour dough . After resting the final dough I flattened it to the pan..brushed garlic and oil...added a basil tomato mixture for a light sauce, sundried tomatoes and freshly grated romano, parmesean..and it was ..honest to God.. the best pizza crust ever..crunchy on the outside ..chewy inside..bubbly and beautiful to look at..I am hooked! Make sure you don't skimp on salt..it can make or break the flavor of bread...

I LOVED this recipe! I made it Friday and then made it again Saturday. This is the first ciabatta recipe I have ever tried. Thanks for making it so easy and accessible! :D I used a kitchen aide artisan mixer.

The first time I made it, I mixed the dough with a paddle, let it rest for 10 minutes and then changed to a bread hook and beat it on 4 for 25 minutes. Nothiing happened until I moved the speed up. The bread was super tastey but not a ton of rise.

The second time I made it, I, again, mixed the dough with a paddle, let it rise for 10 minutes BUT I left the paddle on and mixed it on crazy high speed. In about 4 minutes the dough was pulling away from the sides and climbing up the paddle. I switched to the bread hook and the dough formed a ball in on super high speed in about 2 minutes. This bread had a taller rise.

Both times the bread tasted soooo good. I used the half bread / half semolina flour recipe. YUM!!!

Sportsglutton (my husband) wanted to make his delicious tuna melt the other day and wanted to buy some ciabatta bread. I stepped in and said "oh no, don't BUY the bread, your AWESOME wife will bake you up a loaf" (plus the cost of bread can be a total rip off). I make bread often; this should be pretty much like making any other loaf, right?

Well it is easy, but no, it is not like making my regular loaf. The dough is much more wet and gooey... and you have to beat the living sh*! out of it.

The recipe worked out very well and is now in my regular bread roundup.

Some notes on the recipe:

I would recommend using a stand mixer for this recipe - you really have to BEAT the bread "batter" which is loose and not kneadable. If you really need to work out a bicep and want to mix it by hand, make sure you have a very strong spoon and lots of time on your hands.

After the initial mixing, I used my bread hook and turned my mixer up to 5 or about medium speed (for reference, I usually only have it set to 1 or 2 when making a regular loaf). For me, it took about 12 minutes for the dough to climb up the hook AND pull away from the bottom of the bowl.

I forgot to flip the unbaked loaf over when I put two of the three loaves in the oven and it did not ruin those loaves. I would still try to remember to flip them next time I make it, just for a little more uniform bubble distribution.

One last photo - and a side note, I did not cut this loaf in the best place, but the air bubbles are typically larger in the loaves than seen in this photo.

The link works now.. it's great to see how well it turned out for you, although the pictures aren't popping for some reason. It's just not my day to be on the computer I guess!

I did note your comment on the overnight ferment. There is one loaf that really develops nicely from the overnight process and that's Peter Reinhardts Vienna Bread.. the difference is night and day - at least to me, it is!

If you don't have a stand mixer, you can use a food processor. I used a Cuisinart Power Prep 14 cup model ( DLC 2014N), mixed the bread flour for a few seconds till everything was moist, waited 20 minutes to autolyse, then added the salt and processed for about another 20 to 30 seconds. Unfortunately, as it comes together instead of rising up the hook as she shows in the video, the dough works its way down the tube for the motor, so it is helpful if you catch it before that happens.

Just so everyone knows, this recipe is the 2nd result when you search for Ciabatta on Google. I think that's awesome. I currently have a batch in the oven. It is about the 20th time I have made this bread.

I made this recipe yesterday afternoon. This was my fifth bread recipe after starting up the hobby a couple weeks ago. I have to say, this was both the best looking and the best tasting bread I have baked so far. My wife and I finished 75% of it before bed last night. The remainder I used for my lunch sandwich today (pastrami, provalone, mustard, mayo, bread lightly toasted) which was out of this world. This is an unbelievably flavorful bread. It tastes like it is heavily enriched with fats, butter or perhaps oil, yet it isn't.

A few notes about the process.

The author of the recipe isn't kidding when he said beat the heck out of this dough. I put it in my KA at speed 6 with the hook and after 15 minutes, it was still like pancake batter. I switched to the paddle and 10 minutes later, still pancake battle. I upped the speed on the mixer and at minute 29 I was about to call it quits when the dough suddenly stiffened and crawled up the paddle. It transformed in about 30 seconds. Do not despair when mixing this dough. It eventually works. It does use a lot of power though. That is my main issue with this recipe. Not very "green."

The dough was very difficult to handle. Even cutting it into pieces was tricky. It rose pretty fast and got to 3x size in 120 miniutes. Lots of very large air bubbles in the dough, like spheres a full inch in diameter.

When I tried to stretch and flip it, the dough just sagged between my fingers. Looked like I degassed it too much right before putting it in the oven. Oven spring was about average. The crusts looked exactly like those pictured in the original post, without so much flower dusting. The crumb wasn't quite as impressive. Very large irregular holes in parts of the loafs and some parts were denser with regular, smaller holes. I believe those were the portions I degassed too much by manhandling the dough. It's very important to handle this dough gingerly, especially in that final phase right before you put it in the oven.

At least not in the traditional sense that we think it's dough. The author or several others here have referred to it as "glop" and I would have to agree that its a pretty accurate description of the "dough".

When I make this bread, I never touch or otherwise handle the dough with my hands. I use my dough scrapers to unload it on a nicely floured bench and I use two metal bench scrapers (which are kept wet at all times) to separate, shape and flip the dough. There is a great video out there by Jenn Menke (click here to watch video) that shows this technique nicely. Anyone who tries to handle this dough will quickly realize that it's a bit like nailing jello to a tree and yes, degassing is awful after all that mixing and hard work.

This dough cannot really come together properly at speed 6 on your KitchenAid. It really has to start out at the highest speed possible and I rarely use my paddle.. I generally just use the dough hook. Additionally, I usually just wait for the dough to lift off the bottom of the bowl - it doesn't necessarily creep up my dough hook, but I use a KA Pro 600 - so not sure if it is different from other KA models. If I make the dough with my other mixer (Elextrolux DLX), I use only the roller and I have to give it two full cycles on the highest speed. I also add a bit more water than what is called for in this recipe since I live in Arizona and it usually takes a bit more to get my breads perfect.

A good ciabatta should have large, irregular holes. It should have a nice consistency that is the result of it's heavy moisture content and mega gluten development on the mix. This bread never gets tall, it's not supposed to, but it would be tall enough to make one of your tasty sandwiches you mentioned. That sounds SO GOOD!

Here is a pic of my usual hole structure. You should post a photo of your bread. Would love to see it.

I made this recipe twice this weekend, the first time I made 4 small loaves, which we devoured, then made 2 normal sized ones which I took to a dinner party. We heated them up in the oven for about 7 minutes and they were so delicious! The recipe was easy to follow, and all the posts below were super helpful to me as I've only been baking bread for a week (started with the pretzels on this site, then made ciabattas and the buttermilk rolls...it was a delicious gluttonous weekend!).

All things being equal, you get the best oven spring and bottom crust texture on a hot stone.

That is not to say that you cannot achieve a "perfectly satisfactory" loaf without a stone. You certainly can. Even with a stone, if things aren't right, one might not get much oven spring. So just because you may not get oven much spring, does not necessarily mean a stone, or lack thereof, is the problem.

Good gluten developement, proper timimg(proofing), and shaping, are all probably more important to a good rise and good oven spring, than a stone.

Richard You will see the next message down where I baked on a pizza pan. I am in a motor home so no room and the stone in a conv. small one does not get hot enough. I have baked on stone ,cookie sheet and also the pizza pan you will see in next post below.

Only difference I got was a small convection oven does not get hot enough but will work. At my winter residense I have a oven. I bake CB at 550 . Good crust and crumb. So hope that helps . I have a few other post with photos here also.

I make my Ciabatta form Lahey's no knead recipe, which is a wet dough. I bake it on parchment paper on a cookie sheet and it comes out very good. I can't see myself sliding a wet dough on a stone, might be to messy. Take a look!

Moved into the motor home for the summer. Only have a micro/convection small oven In the past not good luck with bread.

I only made 3 loaves from the whole recipe. I put them on a pizza pan and baked. 15 minutes . 3 minutes on convection at 425 all the oven will go. After 3 minutes I would turn the turntable on to rotate 50% to get even crust color. The crumb was full of holes . The crust was chewey not hard but with the low heat about all I can expect. The crumb was nice and moist. Not sure how dense it could be but had a nice flavor.

Thanks for posting this recipe! I just made it for the first time tonight. Just got a Bosch Compact mixer and I wanted to experiment. I used KASL flour and semolina. I used the dough hook throughout, both for the initial mixing and for the "beating the hell out of it part". Put the mixer on high and it took just under 10 minutes for it to start bouncing around. It didn't really climb the hook, but it cleared the bowl and was as close to window-paning as you can get with something so sticky. I did need to hold the mixer a bit towards the end, to keep it from walking, even with the little suction cups. Rise took only 1 1/2 hours to triple. The crumb came out beautiful, similar to the initial poster's pictures, and the flavor was great. This one is a keeper!!!

I have made this recipe many times and have posted here many loaves and there condition on this site. My loaves are always well proofed baked and full of nice holes. If not a crispy crust that I get in my home oven it will be a chewy crust from baking in a micro/convection oven in my Motor Coach.

My bread regardless of looks or good crumb it does not have a nice flavor. I use King Arthur or Gold Medal unbleached and un bromated flour

I have tried also letting it do a proof in my refrigerator to ??? get more flavor but it still is a bland taste. Wonder if there is any thing I might add to increase the flavor or taste.

I might mention my crumb is sort of a moist content. My bread temp is about 205 + 1-2 degrees in temp when pulled from the oven. Most folks enjoy it but I think it should be better and a little more on the drier side for the crumb for a nicer flavor and taste.

Thanks for reading my post. it is a wonderful recipe after you master handling it. Mr. Bob

This bread was a pleasure to make and really turned out nice. Thank you for originally posting this recipe and staying with it!!! Lots of support you have given to all the posts, I have enjoyed reading and learned a great deal...

Bread flour absorbs more water and has more gluten than AP so... if you are stuck and have no other choices, try reducing the water (I have no idea how much, just less than the recipe) and go for it! Do tell us how it came out. :)

this bread is AMAZING.... I learned so much just with working with the semolina recipe. Always wanted to make ciabatta, and silly me I thought the big bubbles were because of the x amount of yeast. I should have known that water plays THE roll of succes (together with the right strength of gluten)

my loafs came out like little wonders... small contribution: I use an unglazed ceramic floor tile as my "floor" in my oven. True stone baked bread now!!

next time I'm going to replace 10% of the bread flour with buckwheat or whole grain rye, see how that will work out..

For my first attempt I tried 1/3 whole wheat bread, 1/3 semolina, and 1/3 white bread flour (Bob's RM). Instead of purchased yeast I used my sourdough starter that I've had for the last couple of years (100% hydration). I adjusted the amount of total flour and water to give me a 1.5# loaf, but still maintain the 95% hydration of the original recipe (according to my math skills). I let the water, flour and sourdough starter autolyse for 20 minutes after the initial mix. After adding the salt and beating the tar our of it for 1/2 hour, I wanted to retard the fermentation so, after starting in the evening, I placed it in the refrigerator overnight. The following morning the dough had approximately doubled. Another 1-1/2 hours at room temperature got it to triple. I wanted one larger loaf so I preheated to 500 degrees F, but once the bread went in the oven, I ran it at 450 degrees. It took 35 minutes to reach 205 degrees internal temp' (I'm at 2200 feet elevation). I didn't quite get the giant holes others have obtained, but from my sourdough starter, it is respectable for a first attempt. The sourdough came through very nicely - just as I hoped. I love this recipe!

I finally tried these instructions for ciabatta and ended up with four wonderful long flat loaves -- not the most beautiful or shapely ones in the world but very toothsomely chewy and tasty with lots of holes. Split, filled with garlic-sauteed spinach, grilled red pepper slices, bacon, sharp cheddar and pesto mayonnaise, and then grilled. Yummy supper!

I'm seeing credits to Jason Molinari on YouTube and elsewhere for this recipe/method, but I went back to the original posting and see that Jason got the original from John "king of glop". I don't see how something working out this good is being passed on as "Jason's". Here is a link:

Does it matter? This was posted so long ago and we've all had fun making it... I'd give credit to the Princess of Glop if it meant having tons of fun baking it. Now, go bake up a loaf or two and have some fun!

I'm not sure how many times i have made this bread but it always has a nice texture and smell. Oven spring is fantastic. Yesterday I made a rather large loaf and by the time I got back from class everyone had eaten it. SO this is todays loaf. #not a bad daily loaf.

tried this recipe and really like it, but I am not sure how to fold the dough. Is there any special technique. First try I did not fold it at all. It came out bubbly and wonderful, yet there was a separation in the dough. The second time I folded it like a baguette. It was denser and the loaves came out a bit heavy.

You were right the first time(re-read the original post). There is no folding. For this recipe, you just dump it out on a well floured surface and shape into loaves with a bench scraper(see video linked below).

Probably the best way to prevent/minimize the "separation" is the dimpling in the initial shaping, and the flipping of the loaves just before baking. Good luck!

Hi there, made this yesterday, first time using "real yeast" as I have been making sourdough using a starter from the Companion Bakery in Tasmania, Australia. Without thinking, I just emptied the yeast powder with the flour, then wondered if I should have pre soaked it to wake it up. I just made sure the water was nice and warm, and let it prove in the slightly warm oven and it worked a treat! Everyone loved it, and it was great to make it so quickly, as my sourdough starter lives in the fridge I havestart Friday morning for Saturday bread .

I want to express a huge amount of thanks to lilDice who posted the recipe here, as well as to the king of gloop who came up with the idea of using close to 100% hydration.

For me this was just an experiment, being intrigued by what I'd read in the thread and having a couple of hours to spend. I honestly didn't think it would work, certainly not after seeing that the 'dough' had the consistency of batter after initial mixing.

The only thing I modified was adding 100 gr of 100% hydration sourdough starter (that I intende to discard anyway after having refreshed my starter culture). For the rest I followed the described procedure to the dot. Started mixing with the dough hook but got nowhere after 10 minutes at speed 8 and switched to the paddle attachment. Sure enough, the dough started coming together and creeping up the paddle after a couple of minutes. Switched back to the hook and gave it another 4 minutes, then gave it a 10 minute rest (33 centigrade in my kitchen). This is what it looked like at this point:

Saying things didn't look too promising at this point is a bit of an understatement.

Anyway, I left it in my kitchen to rise. Perhaps it was the temperature, perhaps the boosting effect due to the injection of extra yeast with my starter but anyway, it tripled within 1.5 hours. I divided the gloop (manageable but obviously very slack) and gave it a 35 minute rest, at which point we were here (apologies for picture quality):

Meanwhile I had stoke my oven very hot (250 centigrade), placed some cast iron pans at the bottom for extra thermal inertia (don't have a baking stone, yet) and manhandled the liberally floured dough onto a silpad placed on a baking tray. It lost a lot of oomph while I was manipulating/stretching/flipping it but I wasn't overly concerned, still thinking it wouldn't yield a good result.

Put on the fan in my oven, didn't bother with steam. Oven spring was truly good, considering the deflation that had taken place while manipulating the dough.

After 20 minutes, things were ready and I took it out of the oven to let it cool.

The result:

The crust was crisp, the interior airy and creamy. I went wrong with shaping, while transferring the dough to the silpad I stretched it too much. The taste was very good!

The are lots of ciabatta recipes floating around (Hamelman mentions two I believe, one with poolish, the other with biga, then there's Wayne Gisslen in 'Professional Baking' who gives a recipe with a preferment and a rather huge quantity of olive oil, just to mention these) but you'll be hard pressed to find anytng as easy/quick and lean as this one. The only thing I'l try to modify is the quantity of salt: you don't really taste it after baking but it is rather much, even when using lo-salt. I'll reduce it by 1/3 rd next time and see what it does. Shouldn't be a problem as it normally slows down fermentation and that certainly wasn't a problem here.

This Ciabatta was great fun and everyone agreed the flavour was great, funky shapes were where it got stuck on my fingers as I loaded the peel. And I do like a little bit of bread with my butter, lol. Wish I got more height, it spread out a bit.

Just a few obsevations. I made both recipes at the same time, the semolina dough came together quicker that the normal ciabatta. I did try just using the dough hook from the start but this took ages, I used the paddle until it started to lift and the mixer started to dance across the counter top I then switch to the hookto finish of for the last minute or two.

Just made the dough for the first time, using Robin Hood unbleached AP flour, and weighed everything on a scale. Following the youtube video posted elsewhere in this thread, I mixed, let rest for 10 min, then started with the paddle on speed 6. Everything formed together nicely, and really quick! After about 6 min with the paddle it started crawling up, switched to the dough hook and 5 min more and all was done!

I'll keep this updated with my results later today!

Edit: Just mixed a second batch because it went so quickly, this one I timed, from start to finish with the mixing took 6 minutes, including scraping and switching from the paddle to the hook.

I've been toying with breadmaking for a while, most attempts ending in failure, or near. While I've been working more on baugette recipes, mixing and twisting and pounding and folding and pounding and folding and pound.... , you get the idea, for 15 minutes, for 30 minutes, or for 500 folds or whatever the given recipe might suggest. What I had been searching for and what had been eluding me all along was a bread I could make successfully, and repeatably, with a crumb like you presented at the start of this entry.

I came across your process by accident, with slurry already bubbling from an overnight ferment, while looking for yet another baugette recipe. I figured this one looked simple enough, and when it failed, as I was pretty sure it would, at least I hadn't put in another slam and fold marathon.

So I followed the recipe, detouring just slightly to add about 3/4 cup of the slurry, after all, it was there. And, when the bread failed I could blame it on the slurry.

I'm sure you know the rest. What came out was the best loaves of bread I've ever made. I was elated. And have repeated the process to be sure I could. Now I have a foundation to work with. I might try withholding the slurry sometime, but I think it may just be helping develop a bit of additional flavor (probably just a case of baugette brainwashing). I will definitely start pushing the limits, adding things - olives and prosciutto, or maybe some honey (sounds dangerous) and pineapple pieces, and who knows what else.

Thanks for a great recipe, and insuring my quest for better breads from my kitchen not my grocer continues.

It was my very first try at Ciabotta bread. The weather was 78 degrees in my kitchen. The flour (500 grams) was 78 degrees in it's storage container. I used 85 degree water, 475 grams. 2 1/4 ounces of instant yeast and 14 grams of salt. At 12:00pm i put everything in my kitchen aid mixer bowl except the salt. I mixed it to the shaggy state and the autolyse it for 20 minutes then I added the salt and put my mixer on a real high mixing speed and let the machine do it's thing. After about 10 minutes at that real high speed the dough was slapping the side of the mixing bowl and was all in a ball on the dough hook. It was then about 12:42pm.

I put the dough in my proofing container and put a rubber band around the container so I could see how much it was raising. It tripled in mass in 45 minutes. Wow... I'd never seen dough raise like that. It is now about 1:30pm.

At this point I fired up my large Big Green Egg so I could preheat my pizza stone to 500 degrees. I like to preheat for bread baking for at least 1 hour.

I took the dough out of the proofing container and put it on a well floured work surface and punched it down some and preshaped it into 2 loaves and let it raise again. 30 minutes later I did the same thing and final shaped it. It is now 2:05pm.

A half hour later at 2:35pm I put it on the preheated pizza stone under my preheated mixing bowl after I sprayed it with water for the steam I needed and left it covered under the mixing bowl for the first 10 minutes of the cook. Then I took the mixing bowl off and turned the heat down to about 465 degrees. My intent from there was to watch it brown to the color I wanted it to be through the top vent of the BGE... But, browning was not to be on these lovely loaves... They were over proofed in that short time. it is now 3:00pm. Warp speed from start of mixing to out of the oven in 3 hours, wow!

The Ciabotta bread looked great with great oven spring and it tasted wonderful. But I think my mistake was using 85 degrees water. The water should have been much cooler so the dough didn't rise at warp speed. If I had done that it would have risen slower and not used up the chemicals needed for the browning of the dough.

It was a fun attempt at Ciabotta I was amazed at how fast everything was happening. That just shows how the weather effects how the dough works at higher temps. If I had done the same thing and my room temperature was in the mid 60's it would have taken 2 or 3 hours for the first rise. That's what I was expecting on this dough really.

This time my kitchen was still 78 degrees and my flour, in it's storage container was 77 degrees. So I mixed the dough with 58 degree water. I used bottled mineral water at room temp so I had to put some ice in it to get it down to 58 degrees. Then with the mixer speed the recipe suggests you are going to have an increase of at least 26 degrees dough temperature because of the mixer friction. My dough at the end of the mixing process was 80 degrees, which is perfect.

The dough tripled in mass in hour and 45 minutes instead of 43 minutes on my first try. The cold water worked. After final shaping and final proofing which only took 45 minutes I put my loaves in the oven. I still got good ovenspring but this time I got a much better final color. I think my first try my dough was over proofed.

I agree that recipe makes a beatiful loaf, is easy to make, and has a great crumb. The problem with the bread is its flavor. It does not have enough time to develop great depth and complexity. For a recipe that exudes depth of flavor, may I suggest the recipe for Craig Ponsford's Ciabatta from "Artisan Baking by Maggie Glezer. Side by side there is no comparison. This recipe takes two days to make but is worth the extra effort. The parchment paper makes the shaping and handling easier. Here is a link to the recipe http://breadbasketcase.blogspot.com/2011/01/craig-ponsfords-ciabatta.html, although the ingredients have been halved for 1 loaf instead of two. Since ciabatta is only great the first day, I think halving the recipe is the right way to go. If some ciabatta is going to be left over, I get the best results by freezing it immediately after being fully cooled.

I don't have a bread mixer and stupidly decided to tackle this bread anyway.

It took me 30 minutes to hand mix - I must have sweated about a gallon of water (I promise none of it was used in the bread)! Suffice to say I probably didn't quite mix it for long enough, as it was still a very elastic dough, but I physically couldn't do it any more.

It got decent oven spring and was nice and bubbly as Ciabatta should be, but the runniness of the dough meant that I had no chance of being able to shape it. As delicious as it was, unless I get a bread mixer I'll probably try to search for less labour intensive Ciabatta recipes in the future!!

Hi! I made some ciabatta, roughly followin' these instructions and it was AWESOME. I took it to another step though, and separated the dough into several blobs. I used them as bowls for my pizza soup and it was a rousin' success!! Thank you so much for puttin' it here! :>

Thanks Jason for an outstanding and unique recipe. I found that I could make a few slight modifications and turn out a couple of great tasting sandwich (type) loaves using a pan. I did incorporate a sponge. And like the original recipe, the bread is feather light and great tasting. I'll post my changes below, but the claim to fame for this recipe will forever remain yours. Thanks for sharing...

With the paddle beat the living heck out of the batter, it will start out like pancake batter but in anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes it will set up and work like a very sticky dough. Set mixer to speed 6 with the paddle installed. When the dough starts climbing at about 11 1/2 minutes, then switch to the hook. Set mixer to speed 8 with the hook installed. You'll know it's done when it separates from the side of the bowl and starts to climb up your hook/paddle and just coming off the bottom of the bowl. Once this happens continue for an extra minute. I mean this literally about the climbing, i once didn't pay attention and it climbed up my paddle into the greasy inner workings of the mixer. It was not pretty! Anyway, it will definitely pass the windowpane test.

Place into a well oiled container and let it triple! it must triple! For me this takes about 2.5 hours

Empty on to a floured counter (scrape if you must, however you gotta get the gloop out), cut into 2 pieces. Fold the dough a couple of times to give it more structure and then place in 2 (8 1/2 X 4 1/2) greased bread pans. Let them proof for about 45 minutes , which gives you enough time to crank that oven up to 500F.

Bake at 500F until they are 205F in the center (about 15-20 minutes), rotating 180 degrees half way through. Some people like to turn the oven down to 450F after 10 minutes, but whatever floats your boat.

Hi, i've came in here browsing through internet and improving my knowledge in bread making. I've done few more or less good attempts to do bread few years ago. After that, I had a long pause in bread making. Three months ago when my sciatica problems started I've decided to come back to bread making, so I'm very new in it. Thanks for the knowledge and recipes that you're sharing in here. Below I'm posting my first try of ciabatta bread which i've done a week ago.

20 trial loaves, 4websites and 2 books later I finally discovered this recipe it is precisely, exactly, hands-down the bread I wanted to make. And it worked on the first try. My husband thinks I'm a goddess, my in- laws now think I can bake. Don't know who you are, Jason, but I thank you. And I blame you for the weight gain.....

I've made this bread recipe probably under a dozen times ('cause it's so good!) -- but I seem to keep having the same problem. My dough doesn't climb very much and it usually never clears the bottom of the bowl. The bread still turns out good/ok, but I know it can be better. I usually cut the recipe in half and I use AP flour (I need to just buy bread flour), so I'm not sure if either of those factors affect my bread making. Any thoughts???

1. bread flour may provide more gluten which will allow you to get big bubbles and form good structure in a dough, however with this hydration, that shouldn't matter too, too much to your final result.

2. how long are you beating it in the mixer and at what setting? The first time I made this I took extensive notes, so I can tell you that I had the mixer at setting 6 for 20 minutes, and was holding onto the mixer the whole time to keep it from walking, and about 30 seconds before it actually separated from the bowl I wrote down "this seems like a really long time, I'm nervous that nothing is going to happen"

So I'll usually do something similar to what she does-- start it on speed 6 until it climbs (which mine never does too much-- only about halfway up the paddle), and then switch to speed 8 with the dough hook. I've honestly been doing it for the full 30 minutes (and i'm scared to go too far beyond that amount of time). It sort of sticks to the bottom of the bowl and just never lifts. I always think it's my water to bread ratio, but i'm afraid to play around with it because i've never worked with such a sticky dough. Hm....

I mixed only the flour and water until all the flour was moistened and let them autolyse for 10 minutes. I added the instant yeast and table salt after the 10-minute rest.

Using my Kitchenaid 5-qt mixer (KSM500PS), with the mixing Paddle, I beat the batter on Speed 4, adding in the Instant Yeast and when it was mixed in, adding the table salt.

I beat the batter on Speed 4 with the mixing Paddle for 4-minutes, until the dough started climbing to the top of the mixing Paddle. I stopped the mixer and scraped the dough all back into the bowl and removed the mixing Paddle.

I switched to the "J" Dough Hook and beat the dough for an additional 11-minutes, until it had pulled away from the sides of the bowl and was pulling from the bottom of the bowl (the dough would pull away and fall back to the bottom of the bowl). Total mixing time 15-minutes on Speed 4. (4-minutes with the mixing Paddle & 11-minutes with the "J" Dough Hook).

From this point on, I followed the recipe exactly as it is printed above and it turned out perfect.

I baked the ciabatta for 15-minutes at 500-F, when it read 205-F internal temperature, I removed it from the oven.

this time using a Kitchenaid Spiral Dough Hook (that I recently purchased) in my Kitchenaid 5-qt mixer (KSM500PS). I beat the batter on Speed 4 for 18 minutes with the Spiral Dough Hook until the batter came away from the bottom of the bowl. The dough does not climb up this Spiral dough hook, because of its design, it pushes the dough down into the bottom of the bowl. I didn't have to stop the mixer once to push down the batter, as I did when I made the recipe the first time. The recipe came out great as usual.

as you except I added one half cup more bread flour to the 500g and I use the dough hook all the way on the KA mixer. That's just me wanting a little more structure to the crumb. I reduced the salt as well, felt that 15g was a tad salty. And I'm following your procedure with baking at 500 F for 15 min. I use a pizza stone for good oven spring. Yeah, I agree with you, this is THE ciabatta I bake from now on. So far I've baked 4 batches. See pic's below.

So on Saturday we were invited to dinner, I volunteered to make bread as our contribution to the meal. A couple of days earlier I watched the "That's a lot of Ciabatta" and it looked pretty straightforward. Maybe someday when I watch a video and think "I can do that" I'll practice it a few times.

Short story is that my Ciabatta was a partial success. Tasted great (our friends' kids said it was the best bread they've ever had), crumb was light and airy ... on the bad side was virtually no oven spring. Here we go again ... I've been having the same problems with sourdough ... sigh. Especially frustrating was watching the video and the loaf nearly doubles in volume from oven spring alone.

A couple of things:

1. I used "active yeast" but Jennifer Menke used instant. I assumed - I think incorrectly - that there wouldn't be a difference. The 2nd rise was weak, so either my kitchen was too cold (I proofed the loaves in a warm (80F) oven) or the gluten was not developed sufficiently. Jennifer's dough seemed to maintain its shape and had a nice 2nd rise, my dough merely oozed everywhere.

2. While using my Kitchen Aid with dough hook, the dough came off the bowl after maybe 5 minutes (tops) of mixing. Should I have continued mixing it for 3 to 4 minutes after it came off the bowl? I'm a bit worried that if I overdo it that I'll lose the airy crumb.

I'll try again but this is getting ridiculous. These sorts of continuous failures are why I gave up making bread 15+ years ago.

I've made this bread 3x over the past week for the first time and had great success, so I'm not expert but will try to lend some advice based on my experience.

Active dry yeast definitely does not equate to instant yeast and may be the crux of your issue. Active dry yeast should be activated prior to making the bread while instant yeast is sufficient to just throw in with the dough. You should activate your active dry yeast with some warm water and a pinch of sugar at least 10 minutes prior to making the dough (use a portion of the water called for in the recipe). Without activating your yeast beforehand it likely wasn't active enough after making the dough hence the weak second rise and lack of oven spring.

A few other tips I've gleaned from the comments which I'd suggest:

1. Mix the flour, water, and activated active dry yeast (or instant yeast) for a few minutes until incorporated then let rest for 10 minutes for the flour to fully absorb the water (aka autolyze). Important: don't add the salt until AFTER the 10 minute autolyze. This will give the yeast a nice jump start and reduce your mixing time.

2. It should take at least 8-10 minutes of mixing to get the dough kneaded to the right stage. It may look like it's fully pulling off from the bowl but until the dough is STAYING pulled off the bowl it isn't ready. The sound of the kneading dough goes through 3 stages for me from 1) sticky slopping to 2) sticking slapping (almost or partially pulling away from the bowl) to finally 3) slapping (when the dough is fully on the hook, pulled away from the bottom of the bowl and just slapping against the sides). I let it go for a couple minutes after fully pulling away just for good measure.

3. I stopped the kneading a few times in the early stages to scrape everything off the sides and bottom of the bowl, probably not necessary but can't hurt.

4. I used a floured parchment paper to pour the risen dough out onto and shape. After the second rise I cut the paper leaving significant extra paper so when I need to flip I can just roll the paper over, almost like folding in half. That way I don't even have to pick up the dough to flip it and I can simply slide that paper with the dough into the over when ready.

5. Add a pan to the over when it's pre-heating (under your stone or shelf where you'll cook the bread) and 5 minutes before you put your bread in add a cup and a 1/2 of warm water. The steam has given my bread a nice rise and a tasty brown crust.

Until I saw the youtube video I didn't know that you had to beat it that hard, so my first attempt failed. Second attempt worked great though, and I used garlic-infused olive oil during tripling so flavour isn't bad either :)

I made this recipe successfully using a food processor with a plastic dough blade. My food processor isn't very powerful and should be run for no more than a minute at a time, so I beat it for a minute then let it rest for several minutes before going again.

It took seven minutes of beating to get the gloop to come together to resemble a dough and to start climbing the spindle. The bread turned out exactly right.

Just be careful using a food processor as you could burn the motor out by using it continuously for several minutes.

I used this recipe and ended up with 2 small loaves and several rolls. I really want the rolls as my son loves them for lunch. I divided the dough at the same time as above. While baking the loaves, I noticed that the rise was high so I flattened out the rolls a little more (stretched). The rolls came out fairly thin and flat but tasty. Could the oven rise been less for the rolls due to the 2nd shaping or is there less rise with a roll than loaf? I want to make this again soon and just make rolls. It tastes delic!

for the most part and I'm very pleased with results. In the past I was hit and miss trying to get a good crumb until now. Everyone that samples this ciabatta say it has great flavor, make more! ha ha ha I got it memorized as I bake bread two times a week, sometimes more. Ciabatta is very good toasted with soup in winter and it will be a long time before I get tired of making this impressive crazy bread.

so I made this bread tonight. first time ever making anything with yeast.... and it turned out pretty darn good! I think I over proofed it before placing in the over cuz it didn't rise much in the oven. but boy was it yummy! I will definitely try again and explore this site much more!!! thank you so much to all of you bakers who help us newbies out :)

But for some reason today I cannot get the final dough ball to rise. I revived my starter with several feedings until it doubled. I then mixed it with all other ingredients except the sale for 2 minutes with a paddle. Let that stand for 10 minutes. Then beat the heck outta it till the dough just started coming off the bottm (it was already coming off the sides). I turned that out into a 3L measuring cup and let sit at 76-78F for, well, now 3 hours. My rise was negligible (it went from .8L to .9L in the measuring cup.

FWIW, after the 10 minute pause, I whipped it up forgetting to put the salt in. After it just started to clear the bottom, I took it outta the KA. Then I realized I hadn't put the salt in, so I added it and whipped it up again for another 1-2 minutes. I don't think I over-beat it.

I have put it into the fridge to retard overnight and will try to deal with it in the morning. Any ideas?

When I was trying to achieve great, large holes in my ciabatta, I found this recipe and loved the appearance of the bread. It is really beautiful and impressive. But, and you knew it was coming, the flavor is rather shallow and weakly developed. That should have been obvious to me by the title word "Quick." Quick does not have time to develop the necessary enzymes and acids to lead to a depth of nutty, wheaty richness. Try the ciabatta in "Artisan Baking" by Maggie Glezer called Craig Ponsford's Ciabatta. It takes more time (not work) and has a similar crumb and overall appearance. The difference is in the eating. Here is a rendition (that I have not checked for accuracy compared to the book) of the recipe: http://breadbasketcase.blogspot.com/2011/01/craig-ponsfords-ciabatta.html And yes, it is not a typo that you place 1/8 tsp of instant yeast into 1/2 cup water, and then measure only a 1/4 tsp yeasted water into the biga. Then you throw away the rest of the yeasted water! Try it, be patient with the biga, and enjoy! Incidentally I highly recommend Maggie's book. i have several very requested breads that I have copied or adapted from the book. It is beautifully illustrated, a pleasure to look at, and a good read to boot.

I actually put Jason's recipe on youtube if anyone would like to see how it is done. Since then, I've incorporated a few stretch and folds during the rising (right in the rising bowl done with wet hands -- no mess) which has helped me achieve a higher rise and more evenly distributed bubbles. LOVE the recipe (and I've tried many)

What brand did you use? I made it yesterday for the first time with KAF AP and it came out great, but KAF AP is closer to most other brands bread flour in terms of protein content. In fact when Hamelman talks about "Bread Flour" in his book, he is apparently pretty much meaning KAF AP.

Pictures of Ciabatta bread... 1-17-2015 and 1-18-2015 bakes... 95% and 90% hydration recipes. 480 and 465 degrees baking temps. I also experimented with spraying the dough with canola oil before putting it on the baking stone. I prefer it with a lower hydration and the lower temp gave me a better color. All the loaves came out with an internal crumb temp of between 203 to 207 degrees. I use a thermapen to check if the bread is done. I'm going to try a 85% hydration batch of dough next time. The lower hydration makes the crumb less mushy. This dough has a 3% salt... 15 grams of salt for 500grams of flour. That's higher than most bread but it adds flavor.

I was looking for something different from my usual FWSY boules (and recent baguette obsession), and this looked like just the ticket. Amazing that you can get good bread so quickly, love it! Blog entry here:

Thank you for this great recipe! I've been successful twice this week using a sourdough starter instead of commercial yeast. (Substituted 15 percent of the flour in your recipe for whatever flour is in my starter, and adjusted the remaining flour and water accordingly). The first rise to triple took 5.5 hours (in my warm climate of about 26 degrees celcius). And I allowed a whole hour for the pre-bake proofing. I also lowered the amount of salt as the tanginess of sourdough already adds plenty of flavour. It came out better than I imagined it would, especially since it's my first time working with high hydration dough. The reason I had to do it twice this week was because it was all gone in a flash, leaving none for the sandwich I had planned for lunch the next day. Well, I hid one portion away the second time, so I had a nice piece all to myself! Yummy! Thanks again!!!

VMG... I too learned to bake Ciabatta bread from this recipe. I however found it to be to salty and @ 95% hydration the crumb was too wet. So... I converted it to a sourdough recipe. I reduced the salt content to 2% of bread flour and reduced the water content from 95% to 80% and I added 5% fat/butter.

350 grams of bread flour... 500 grams of flour when you add the flour in the starter.

300 grams starter... 100% hydration.

250 grams water... 80% hydration, when you add the water in the starter.

10 grams salt... 2% of flour.

25 grams butter... 5% of flour.

Ciabatta usually has some fat content in the recipe. Jason left that out of this recipe. If you add 3% to 5% of fat, you will get better color to your crust, a better taste and a sheen to your crumb.

Stumbled upon this thread and decided to give it a try. Made a ciabatta with poolish a couple weeks ago and was amazed at the holes, taste and texture. Felt a little guilty eating white bread so decided to make this with 100% fresh milled whole wheat and see what would happen. I thought the flour from my kitchenaid mill attachment would probably be too course so didn't expect much to be honest.

I knew the whole wheat would need more water so upped the hydration to 100%- kind of scary! I used 50% red winter and 50% white winter berries. Followed the rest of the recipe exactly, including the kitchenaid kneading. It took 17 minutes for the dough to go from batter to ball on speed 5.

It was pretty tricky to handle of course being so wet, but manageable with some patience and planning. I was thrilled with the result. Texture and holes were best I have achieved even with bread flour. Nice stretchy chew and holes were shiny. Best tasting 100% whole wheat I have made to date- thanks for posting this!!!!

Been meaning to try this one for a while. No modifications, worked out perfectly. The only single issue were my shaping abilities and placing the last one (bottom right) on a cold pizza stone (not a great idea - not much of a rise). Tastes delicious.

I haven't made this bread in over a year, and got a craving for it. Looked around for my starter and hmm, couldn't find it. Luckily I had frozen some dried out starter so broke it out. Took 10g, crumbled it, added 10g water and BF. Let it sit for 24 hours, no activity, so another 20g w/BF, and another, finally some activity. One more dose of 20g w/BF and within 2 hours it had doubled.

So, I added 430g of BF, 405g water, and 15g salt. I like my ciabatta on the salty side. KA with paddle @ 1 for 5 mins, rest for 10 mins, then KA with paddle @ 6 for 5 mins. KA with hook @ 8 for 5 mins and it pulled off the sides and bottom (momentarily). Sprayed my rising bowl with Pam, turned the dough into it, and covered.

I've made this four or five times now, and it's one of the harder to shape doughs I work with. It really is gloopy after the rise. But it ends up so delicious. It's got a little crisp to the crust, which is fairly thin and breaks away to a moist chewy crumb with large holes and a great pull. I haven't found the flavor lacking any more than any other same day bake. Today, I made the semolina version and thought the flavor was quite good, actually.

Thanks for the recipe. I love the way the dough transforms. And it did not hurt my precious Kitchen Aid!

I finally made ciabatta with big holes! Perfect. I had started out yesterday making the recipe from King Arthur but this morning after reading this recipe I decided to try to follow it. I still used my starter and had a bit of trouble figuring out the amount of flour since the battery on my scale decided to quit. I am surprised it came out at all. But the tips here on how to handle the dough is what I think the other recipe is kinda missing. I have never made a more perfect loaf of bread. Thank you so so much.

I beat it till it pulled off the bowl properly, then I left it to rise, it didn't. So I beat it again, it didn't come off the bowl. So I added 20g of BF and 2 tsp's of yeast (I started with my SD starter) and beat it again for 60 mins...nothing happened, still soup.

Looking for comments on what I did wrong, and hopefully how to recover.

This has to be one of the easiest breads to make. It always turns out and is absolutely fantastic! I use cheap No Name [Canadian] AP flour and regular active yeast. Crisp on the outside and chewy in the middle. Delicious! One of my go to breads now.

For me, mixing time is ~10 minutes. First rise (to triple) is maybe an hour. It rises really fast for me. I don't use steam or cover it at all, doesn't need it.

Now I have to figure out a WW version. There is a grocer near me that sells a 100% WW Ciabatta that's incredible. I can't even tell it's WW. I need to replicate it!

This is a great, easy recipe for ciabatta. I took time out (about a half hour)for a coffee after I had finished the mixing stage, but it still worked great. Using a hook, I beat it for about 10 minutes on 6 in the kitchenaid and it was leaving the sides of the bowl clean. I have just one question: how do you come up with something like this? Where does the brilliant idea for extended beating come from? Beats me!

First of all a big Grazie Mille!!! to Jason Molina and to the OP, LilDice, for sharing this recipe. I have been baking bread for only 3 years or so, and right from the get-go I have been trying to make a true ciabatta with the proper crust, crumb, flavor and chew. Until I tried this recipe, I had little success. I made many loaves of otherwise tasty bread, some even shaped like “slippers,” but the true ciabatta, with its huge holes and characteristic chew, has eluded me. I lived in Florence, Italy for a couple of years, so I got to try and enjoy “slippers” from many bakers in the city. Those huge holes, the chewy crumb and the unique crust were to die for. This recipe brings me not only to the right ballpark, but darn close to a home run. Again, thank you.

In hindsight, I see that the chief problem was that I was using nowhere near the right baker’s percentage of water. In this recipe, the water is 95 % [475/500 x 100]. Virtually all of the so-called ciabatta recipes I had tried before had a hydration on the order of 65-75 baker’s percentage. In some recipes which employed a poolish or biga, it was not possible to compute hydration accurately, but I doubt that any recipe which I’ve tried had more than 75% or so.

The only substantive difference between this recipe and the breads of Florence, Italy is the amount of salt. In the Tuscan region of Italy, people prefer their bread senza sale, without or with very little salt. It’s an acquired taste. I’ve made this recipe twice following the instructions to the T, and the outcome has been splendid both times. Next, I will try reducing the salt little by little as I continue my chase for the perfect Florentine ciabatta.

Has anyone tried this as a sourdough with starter?

To those that advise using a kitchen scale, I would heartily endorse that. In fact, I would suggest looking for one that does “baker’s percentage.” With that feature, you can replicate any bread recipe. I found a battery operated digital scale with that feature on Amazon for under $30.

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